Took advantage this afternoon of the last of the good weather at least for the next few days.  Even though the skies had a high overcast as apparently a system is moving in all the peaks were visible and it was still very spectacular.  I've hiked Snow and Gem lakes several times including the traverse over to Melakwa Pass but had never climbed Wright Mountain until today.  It was so worth it and it is a short climb to the north of Gem Lake with spectacular views looking back at Kaleetan, Chair and Bryant Peaks just to name a few.  The recent snowfall from this past weekend posed no issues.

The weather forecast was for partly sunny skies. It was really more clouds and fog but it made for dramatic scenery.  

The last 0.4 miles to the peak are steep and rocky.  If you continue from the peak down a couple hundred yards along a ridge heading northwest, there is a nice view of the Wildcat lakes.

Didn't feel at all crowded today.  It sure is a beautiful place considering how close it is to Seattle.

RT 11.5 mi and 3200 feet elevation gain.

Nice weekday hike through Snow Lake, Gem Lake, to Wright Mountain. Trail is in good shape the whole way though very rocky especially approaching Wright. Lots of ripe berries between Snow and Gem.

Started hiking at 4:15am. Ate breakfast at Snow Lake and watched the foggy sunrise starting at 5:30am, trying to capture pictures (got a bunch of noir-looking shots). Got to Gem Lake at 7am. Considered Wildcat Lakes, but after looking at the map and my watch, I realized I needed to save it for another day, so I went back and started climbing Wright Mountain.

The mountain is a good class 1/2 scramble. I didn’t bring anything gear wise out of the ordinary (just my boots and poles). Got up to the top around 7:45am and parked my butt for an hour and watched the blue sky and clouds roll by.

I leisurely started back down, picking up garbage on the way down (mostly tissues, dog poop bags). Talked with a lot of folks (many were hoping to stay overnight either at Gem Lake or Snow Lake). Cleaned up the day use area by the lake (so much food waste—eggshells and banana peels don’t belong in the forest!!), and cleaned up the west-most wilderness toilet area (folks: tissues belong in the wilderness toilet, not outside of it!!!).

Hit the mother lode of all poop bag depositors on the way down. I counted about 15 poop bags in total.

Everyone on the trail was awesome for the most part (only 1 group had a dog off-leash).

Random Tidbits:

• Saw a really awesome bear hang this morning on my way to Gem Lake. Kudos to the folks that did that!
• Supposedly there was a black bear in the area, but I didn’t spot any.
• There were lots of ripe blueberries to be found — just not along the Snow Lake Trail proper.
• There was some soft dog poop right on the trail 1/4 mile from Gem Lake on some rocks. Watch your step!

After seeing the marine layer on the drive up to the trail head from the Eastside I was thinking I made the wrong choice and would be in the clouds all day. Well, I made the wright choice, had the wright stuff, and made it all the way to the summit of Wright Mountain. What a beautiful day it was in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness.Now I can see why this is such a popular hike. Did not see many hikers heading up as I started at 7:10 am. Quite a few overnighters at both Snow and Gem lakes. Trail going up to Gem lake is steep but the views are great along the way. The view at Gem Lake looking toward Kaleetan Peak is second to none. After passing the turnoff to get to Wright Mountain and getting some directions from some overnighters, I took one of the trails on the east side of the lake that led to some campsites  and then continued it up to the summit. I lost the trail a few times but just went straight up the talus field and rejoined it. Got to the summit at 9:50 am. Views were fantastic from here. You could see a few of the places that I have hiked, and alot more of places that need to be hiked in the future.

On the way back from Gem lake I started to count hikers that were headed up just for fun. The count was 434 hikers headed up!! No kidding. Everyone was enjoying themselves and did not see anything inappropriate.

Got back at car at 12:30. Awesome hike on a gorgeous day! GPS had it at 11.6 miles RT with 3455 elevation gain with all the ups and downs.